Posts Tagged ‘The Syfy Channel’

WAREHOUSE 13, the most successful series in the Syfy Channel’s history, has announced that Gina Torres will join Firefly alums Jewel Staite and Sean Maher as guest-stars during the second season, which kicks off in July. The show is currently in production in Toronto.

Philip Winchester (Crusoe, Alice) and Paula Garces (Defying Gravity) will also appear as guest-stars this year. Torres’ and Garces’ roles are both love interests for Pete (Eddie McClintock). Torres, who portrayed Zoe Washburne in Firefly, plays Kate, an agent from Pete’s past. Garces, who played Paula Morales in Defying Gravity and Officer Tina Hanlon in The Shield, assumes the recurring role of Kelly, a sexy, spunky headstrong veterinarian in the Warehouse town of Univille who catches Pete’s eye.

In the episode featuring Philip Winchester (Jack Chase in Alice), Pete and Myka (Joanne Kelly) discover an object in the Warehouse town of Univille is transmitting increasingly dangerous scenes from old Hollywood movies. Winchester plays 1950s matinée idol Raymond St. James, the star of these movies, in roles which include a Cowboy, a Marine, a Gladiator and a Mad Scientist.

THE Syfy Channel’s acclaimed series, Stargate Universe, has cast famed actors, Robert Knepper (Heroes, Prison Break) and Julie McNiven (Supernatural, Mad Men), as guest-stars in the second season of the hit show. Knepper joins the cast for a six-episode arc and will portray Simeon, a member of the Lucian Alliance.

Julie McNiven as Anna Milton in Supernatural. Photo copyright of The CW

McNiven will also join the cast for a five-episode arc, portraying Ginn, also a member of the Lucian Alliance. Production is underway in Vancouver, British Columbia on Season Two of Stargate Universe, which begins airing on Syfy this fall. Meanwhile, the second half of the show’s first season premieres Friday, April 2nd @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST.

As noted above, photos copyright of NBC or The CW, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

LUCAS Bryant (Queer as Folk, Dollhouse) and Eric Balfour (24, Six Feet Under) have been cast in the Syfy Channel’s new drama series Haven, based on the novella The Colorado Kid by renowned author Stephen King. Bryant and Balfour join Emily Rose on the series, which is slated to air on Syfy this summer. Haven follows FBI agent Audrey Parker (Rose), who arrives in the small town of Haven, Maine on a routine case…only to discover that this curious enclave has served as a longtime refuge for people who are affected with a remarkable range of supernatural abilities.

Bryant will play Nathan Wuornos, the wry local cop who soon becomes Audrey’s partner. Bristling under the thumb of his father, the Chief of Police, Nathan has a quiet, controlled demeanor that often clashes with Audrey’s feisty one: a dichotomy that also makes them perfect complements. As events in the town begin to unfold at a suprising pace, Nathan’s usual controlled sense of calm is put to the test.

Also among the citizens of this eccentric town is Duke Crocker (Balfour), a charming yet mysterious jack-of-all-trades. Though Duke outwardly appears to be a free spirit who lives an unobtrusive life on his boat, it becomes apparent that his mellow demeanor may conceal a much darker agenda.

Production on Haven is expected to commence in Spring 2010 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

THE Syfy Channel announced it has commissioned a script for a half-hour comedy pilot starring Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernie’s) from Sony and Happy Madison Productions. Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), who created the show, will co-star.

The single camera program follows the lives of two friends, former actors on a popular science fiction show, who have hit rock bottom and must work together to get their lives back on track. Happy Madison and Doug Robinson will serve as executive producers along with Adam Goldberg, Rose and Bomb Productions, and Untitled Entertainment.

Jonathan Silverman is known for his roles in the TV series Gimme a Break! as well as the feature films Brighton Beach Memoirs, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Caddyshack II, Little Big League, Weekend at Bernie’s and its sequel. Most recently, Michael Rosenbaum portrayed Lex Luthor on Smallville.

Movies include Riverworld (previously reported on SciFiAndTvTalk), starring Alan Cumming in an epic adventure based on the award-winning series of Philip Jose Farmer novels; The Phantom, and 24 of the popular Stargate Original Movies, including Red, a re-imagining of the Little Red Riding Hood story starring Felicia Day, Roger Corman’s Sharktopus, starring Eric Roberts (also previously reported along with Red on this blog) and Lake Placid 3 – sequel to the most watched Saturday Original Movie ever (Lake Placid 2). Below are some highlights of these upcoming projects.

The Phantom – Four hours, premieres in June – Ryan Carnes stars as The Phantom and his alter ego Chris Walker in this re-imagined version of the classic comic strip transported to present day. A favorite costumed hero for more than six decades, The Phantom relies on his wits, physical strength and skill with weapons instead of superhuman powers. Isabella Rossellini guest-stars in a villainous turn as Lithia, the head of an experimental mind control program. Also starring are Cameron Goodman as Chris Walker’s love interest, Renny, and Sandrine Holt (24, The L Word) as The Phantom’s trusted advisor, Guran. Director: Paolo Barzman (The Last Templar). The Phantom is produced by Muse Entertainment and RHI Entertainment.

Mega Piranha – Premieres Saturday, April 10th @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST. An unusual alliance tries to stop a mutant strain of giant ferocious piranhas that have escaped from the Amazon and are eating their way to Florida. Stars Barry Williams, Tiffany and Paul Logan.

Mongolian Death Worm – Premieres Saturday, May 8th @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST. A treasure hunter who has been searching for a tomb containing Genghis Khan’s treasure teams up with an humanitarian UN health worker to stop the Mongolian Death Worms, awakened by experimental oil drilling in the Mongolian desert. Stars Patrick Flannery and Victoria Pratt.

Witchville – Premieres Saturday, May 22nd @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST. This first Syfy production in China is a sweeping fantasy tale of a kingdom besieged by witches who are sucking the very life out of the land. Only the new King can save his people, but his mysterious connection to the Red Queen of the witches may be his undoing. Stars Luke Goss.

Lake Placid 3 – In this sequel , a game warden, his wife and their young son move into their aunt’s cabin on Lake Placid, where the lonely boy stars feeding baby crocodiles he views as pets. Three years later, the crocs start looking at him and his family as their food. Stars Colin Ferguson.

Stonehenge Apocalypse – When the giant stones of Stonehenge begin to move and cataclysms occur all over the Earth, only a fringe radio talk show host who’s an expert in UFOlogy figures out that the ancient monument is really alien technology. Stars Hill Harper, Misha Collins and Peter Wingfield.

The Lost Future – In a post-apocalyptic world, both humans and animals have devolved back to the Stone Age. But a small group of wise men knows there is knowledge in the mysterious artifacts called books. Now they have found a young man who knows how to read. If they can defeat the warlord who rules the city where the books are kept, the young man can help them defeat the disease that decimated the world and restart the civilization. Stars Sean Bean.

Scream of the Banshee – An archeology professor unearths a dangerous relic, releasing a creature that can kill with her bone-splitting scream. Stars Lauren Holly and Lance Henriksen.

Morlocks – An experimental time machine opens a window into the future and mutated monsters (the Morlocks) use it to come back to the present and go on a murderous rampage. Stars David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis).

8th Voyage of Sinbad – Sinbad searches for the golden head of the long lost Colossus of Rhodes and, instead, finds an island where the mythical Minotaur still rules, protecting a vast treasure. Sinbad and his crew have to battle the creature and its minions to get the treasure and save their own lives. Stars Manu Bennett.

THE Syfy Channel has ordered the 90-minute pilot Three Inches from writer Harley Payton (Twin Peaks) it has been announced by Mark Stern, Executive Vice President of Development for Syfy. The action-adventure/fantasy will be produced by Fox Television Studios and Executive Producer Bob Cooper, whose Landscape Entertainment is producing. J.J. Jamieson heads up television for Landscape Entertainment. Peyton also serves as executive producer.

In Three Inches, Walter, a professional daydreamer and underachiever is struck by lightning and develops a unique “super” power – the ability to move any object using just his mind…but only a distance of three inches. He’s soon recruited by a covert team of superheroes each gifted with their own extraordinary abilities. Together, the unlikely band of heroes proves that “super” is simply a state of mind.

“Three Inches is a smart , off-beat spin on the superhero genre. It introduces a new group of crime fighters who possess some imaginative – if not all that super – powers,” said Stern. “We look forward to working with Harley, Bob, and Fox Television Studios on this project.”

David Madden, executive vice president, Fox Television Studios, said, “We felt there was something special and particularly twisted about this script, both in tone and in its sense of imagination. we could not be more thrilled to be working on it with Syfy.”

Harley Peyton was producer and/or writer of more than 20 episodes of David Lynch’s groundbreaking television hit Twin Peaks, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for Drama Series (1990). He also wrote the screenplay for Less Than Zero, based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis. He is currently working on a follow-up to the feature film The Thomas Crown Affair.

ON March 16th, 2010, some of the Syfy Channel’s brightest stars joined network executives and invited guests for Syfy’s Upfront Event at New York’s Museum of Modern Art to help the channel celebrate its ratings success as well as promote several upcoming projects for the 2010-2011 broadcast season. Below are some photo highlights from the gathering. Enjoy!

THE Syfy Channel, the leader in paranormal reality programming, has greenlit a new hour-long series, Paranormal Investigators (working title), it was announced on March 16th by Mark Stern, Executive Vice President of Original Programming, Syfy, and Co-Head of Content for Universal Cable Productions. Paranormal Investigators will separate fact from fiction by scouring the web and traveling the world in an attempt to uncover the truth behind some of the most compelling, unexplained supernatural and paranormal occurences caught on camera. The series is executive produced by John Brenkus and Mickey Stern for BASE Productions, and is a co-production with Sci Fi Channel Europe LLC. The six episodes of Paranormal Investigators will commence production in spring 2010 and premieres on Syfy, Thursday, July 15th @ 10 p.m. EST/PST.

“Paranormal Investigators is a strong and natural fit for our growing Syfy reality slate and will be in great company alongside our successful Ghost Hunters franchise,” said Stern. “Our new partnership with BASE Productions is an exciting way to continue to grow our development mission of imagination based entertainment.”

The six-person team, led by former FBI Spacial Agent Ben Hansen, consists of Larry Caughlan, Jael de Pardo, Chi-Lan Lieu, Bill Murphy and Austin Porter. In each episode, the team will first analyze and debate potential cases by reviewing intriguing and unusual scenes and images captured on video and posted online by “eyewitnesses” from all over the world. This wide-ranging phenomena can include ghosts, poltergeist activity, UFOs, alien and creature sightings and past lives.

After agreeing on which video warrants further investigation, the team will embark on a full investigation in order to try to explain the unexplainable and dispel hoaxes from fact. They will try to re-create images, carry out scientific experiments, and search for clues and evidence using the latest technology and investigative techniques in order to answer the question, “Is this real?”

“Paranormal Investigators will take viewers inside the creepy and mysterious world of paranormal behavior,” said Brenkus. “In each episode, investigators armed with the latest in high-tech equipment set out to uncover the truth behind compelling images, to dispel or prove their accuracy.”

THE Syfy Channel has renewed its hit reality series Destination Truth for a fourth season, following its most-watched season ever this past fall. Host Josh Gates will return to take viewers around the globe in eight all-new episodes, slated to premiere on Syfy in Fall 2010.

In season four, the daring Josh and his team will once again travel to the farthest corners of the Earth in search of answers behind some of the world’s most intriguing unanswered mysteries. The crew’s itinerary will include investigations in Madagascar, Tanzania, Guam, Kenya and Cambodia. The team will also conduct the first underwater paranormal investigation when they travel to a remote Micronesian island to search for the spirits dwelling in a sunken fleet.

New episodes of season three of Destination Truth premiered on Wednesday, March 17th @ 1o p.m. EST, kicking off with a St. Patrick’s day-themed episode that featured a search for the legendary leprechaun.

Destination Truth is executive produced by Brad Kuhlman for Ping Pong Productions (1000 Places to See Before You Die, Celebrity Rehab, FM Nation). Bobby Pura and Josh Gates serve as co-executive producers.

As noted above, photo copyright of the Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Amanda Tapping and the rest of the Sanctuary cast return for season three! Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions

THE Syfy Channel’s groundbreaking hit original series Sanctuary, commenced production on its third season in Vancouver on March 15th. The one-hour drama’s 20-episode season is slated to return to Syfy this fall.

Sanctuary is one of television’s most groundbreaking series, shooting almost entirely on green screen. The series was the first in North America to use the RED camera exclusively, and its stunning visual effects were nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award. Season three picks up from the adrenaline-fueled action of season two, which raised the stakes for the brilliant scientist Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) and her team, who use their unique combination of instinct, medicine and cutting-edge science and technology to find and aid a clandestine population of beings that the world refuses to believe exist. Sanctuary also stars Robin Dunne as forensic psychiatrist Dr. Will Zimmerman, Agam Darshi as the quick-witted Kate Freelander, Ryan Robbins and tech wiz Henry Foss and Christopher Heyerdahl as the sinister John Druitt.

Created by Damian Kinder (Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis), Sanctuary is produced in association with Syfy and is distributed by Tricon Films and Television. Season three of the series will be executive produced by Damian Kindler, Amanda Tapping, Martin Wood, Keith Beedie and Tricon Films.

As noted above, photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of Sanctuary 2 Productions, so please no unauthorized copying or duplciating of any kind. Thanks!